Rich Kinsey column: The story behind an arrest on 'the block'

Back in the mid 1980s there was an adult bookstore, massage parlor and the Capital Market party store in the 200 block of South Fourth Avenue. Streetwalking prostitutes used to ply their trade by walking up and down the block until a customer or “john” would solicit them.

The Ann Arbor Police Department Special Investigation Unit arrested a 14-year-old girl working in the massage parlor as a prostitute and that effectively shut down the massage parlor and adult bookstore-sex shop. That was the beginning of the end of that block being used by prostitutes and drug dealers.

Before the massage parlor got shut down, it was an area of the city that frequently demanded service from the police department and it was a great place to drive by looking for criminals with warrants.

One night I was driving down the block hunting for an arrest when I spotted a hooker I knew had a warrant. I checked with communications and the warrant was still active so I drove around the block, parked on East Washington and called for backup, because it is always nice to have another set of eyes, ears and hands when arresting a prostitute—so there are no claims of impropriety later.

I started walking down S. Fourth looking for “Betty Jean” who had the warrant, when I noticed some idiot had parked in a driveway next to the Capital Market, completely blocking the sidewalk. The driver of the vehicle had both hands cupped around his nose. His left had held a small white envelope, which he appeared to be sniffing or snorting.

He looked up from his sniffing or snorting, saw me and his eyes got like saucers. He was panicked and took his left hand with the envelope and slammed it down fast between the driver’s door and the front seat. I knew he had dope, so suddenly Betty Jean, who was no longer visible on “the block” anyway, was only a secondary priority.

MLive.com File

I yelled at the driver to show me his hands and give me that paper he had. Instead he reached across his bench seat and handed me out a newspaper instead of the white piece of paper. This all happened very quickly but I saw that his door was unlocked and I yanked the door open grabbed the driver’s shoulder to pull him out of the car. I still could not see his left hand, which was down under the driver’s seat.

When I pulled the driver out of the car, he began flailing both arms at me. Very seldom do people actively fight an officer that quickly. Usually suspects fight to get away, not to attack the officer, but this guy was on the offense and attacking. I ducked the punches and punched the driver in the mouth, which stunned him. I spun him around, pulled him farther out of the car, pushed him onto the trunk deck, gained control of him and handcuffed him.

I was searching the now-handcuffed suspect when my backup arrived and asked me what I had. “I walked up on this guy and he was snorting something. When I pulled him out of the car he started to fight,” I told my backup, then asked, “Can you put him in your car while I find the dope?”

The backup officer, who was one of the finest officers I ever worked with and would later become my partner in the detective bureau, took the driver turned prisoner and walked him to the other police car.

While he and his partner were walking the prisoner to their patrol car, the guy in handcuffs with the fat lip started yelling, “Officers I wasn’t doing anything! I was just sitting in my car when this crazy cop, pulls me out of my car and beats the tar—not his exact word but close enough for a family newspaper—out of me for no reason. Honest guys you got to believe me, that other cop is crazy!”

This starts to draw a crowd on the sidewalk and street. Other police cars who were already coming to provide extra hands, for the arrest I thought I was going to make, start arriving on the scene. Those officers held the crowd back and out of the crime scene area.

In the meantime I went over to find the envelope, packet or bindle that this guy had his nose in. I had not found it, on his person, when I searched him after I arrested him. I figured the small envelope probably contained cocaine which was the drug of choice back then.

I checked using my flashlight in the car next to the front seat. I checked under the front seat. I checked the floor of the backseat. I checked the backseat. I checked the other side of the front seat. I checked the dashboard. I even got down on my hands and knees and checked the ground around and under the car—NOTHING!

I absolutely know what I saw, but now I was in a panic. If I could not find the evidence of what I saw, I could be in some serious trouble.

I acted correctly based on my observations, but now I could not find the corroborating evidence. It was a terrible feeling. I imagined getting discipline or even fired for what I had done—only I knew what I saw and did what I had to do. It is one of the times when an officer feels helpless.

Perhaps I just missed it. I asked my back up to have a look—NOTHING! The officers helping me search were even looking at me skeptically. “Jimmy I know what I saw. This guy had dope!”

About this time another cop named Andy came up and told me that one of the witnesses saw the guy get out and flail his arms at me. Andy told me the witness said when he first started flailing, the suspect threw something white over my head, behind me and down the alley next to a dumpster in front of where his car was parked.

I rushed over and there it was—my salvation. There was the white envelope I had seen and all it contained was some high-quality “bud” marijuana.

At the time, that would have constituted a $5 fine. Instead the suspect, who later admitted he was just excited about the marijuana he had just purchased and wanted to smell it before going into the Capital Market for rolling papers, was charged with interfering, hindering and opposing a police officer.

The witness who came forward, and probably saved my career, got a citizens appreciation award from the chief of police that I had nominated him for. I am thankful to this day, for that good and decent citizen who came forward and reported what he saw.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.